Homework
by Jessiy Landroz
Summary: Shadow, just lost in his little world of thoughts...


He stared at the blank paper, trying to think of what to write on it. He found himself unable to put the thoughts into words due to how cluttered his mind felt.

He had been asked to write an essay on any subject he wanted, but it had to be submitted by the next week on Monday.

Rouge said that it was something the Overlanders called Homework, and was used to help boost his grades if needed. The ultimate Lifeform had no problem with his schooling, as his lessons weren't difficult, even the complex ones weren't hard, they just required more time to study. He never needed the extra grades, but Rouge claimed more was better than less. He thought she had a point.

But it wasn't that Shadow the hedgehog had never done an essay before, it was just that he had never done one that was free to choose. Usually, he was given options on multiple topics, and would have an idea what to search for and what type of information he wanted to write down, but to be given a chance to pick whatever he wanted, he was… lost. What was the goal of being given nothing to choose from?

He sighed and frowned a bit more, trying to think of something, anything, he could actually talk about, that the so-called tutor would accept. He was told that anything was fine, yet still he had his doubts. If he was going to write a long essay about something, the least he could do was write about something worthwhile, right?

And again, there was so much to choose from…

During the past few weeks, there had been many changes throughout the headquarters of G.U.N.'s operational base, and as a fresh recruit, no matter how good he was on the field, the commander decided that he needed to be educated in more than just militia related topics.

Hope Kintobor had been his study-partner, but she was about a grade or two of higher education than him, being a girl genius and all.

A part of him felt offended, the other was proud. She had come from a very scarce society and upbringing throughout his people's travel across space, but her short stay at Knothole obviously perked her up a notch. She was smart, bright, witty and a quick thinker. Much like him, in fact, but it just felt like she was on a much more nourished level, educationally, which was probably due to her open and social nature, in contrast to himself; that made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

It was his pride making feeling like he was an idiot compared to her.

He knew he just needed to catch up on his studies and he'd be able to catch up to her in no time. That didn't make the sting any easier to tolerate.

When he had first started and was learning the ropes around headquarters, Rouge helped him on some things like how to do researches for his essays, and what to do and not do in them. Copy and pasting articles was a big no-no as the tutor would clearly see right through it, so Shadow had to give his reports and essays a personality, so when the tutor read them, he'd know Shadow had done his homework and understood what had been written.

He never understood the point of copying and pasting other peoples work. Didn't that defy the point of learning?

He tapped the pen on the paper again. Why was looking for a topic so hard? All he had to do was choose something and write about it, correct? It sounded very simple, yet his mind hit a blank spot and he had no idea what to do.

A part of him couldn't help but wince at the thought: If Sonic was here, he would have written a whole list for you…

With a grunt, he sat upright and stared at the paper, glaring at it as if it mocked him. He was not letting that blue pest get under his skin when he wasn't even present.

Needing a distraction, he moved his gaze from the glaring white square on the desk top, and looked around the mild colored study room. He was in a small room; it was once a second briefing room, but the Commander decided to turn it into some sort of class room instead for introducing and educating freshmen.

Only few people were allowed there, and it was often used as a study room for the higher class students and low rank soldiers. Some interesting topics were usually brought up during gatherings, as sometimes people end up sharing stories about their adventures, lessons in life and such with one another. Even the teachers would pitch in to share some life experience. Some dated back before Robotnik even rose against the world and gradually his never ending battle against the Kingdom of Acorn as well as the human colonies.

A thought passed through his mind. Colonies. The only colony he had ever experienced life upon was ARK.

It was an odd thought. Though he was forged through the miracles of science at the time, half hedgehog with human like genetics, fused with the powers of Chaos, somehow related to his connection with Black doom, Shadow let him mind wander.

He remembered when he was young, back at Space colony ARK. He and Maria had always considered that space station their home. The dark hedgehog wondered if he'd ever get to see his home again. But that was just the weird part.

Home.

He had never really believed that he had a home. Space Colony ARK had always been a part of his past, and his life there was very short. And yet, there was this thought that ultimately, it was his home, merely because it was his birthplace, where he had a loving family and a place to call his own.

This planet wasn't his. Maria begged him to protect this world, but it wasn't truly his. The blue hedgehog was her true defender; Shadow was merely a pawn in some wicked and tangled game of power. Professor Gerald never would have wanted his grandson, Ivo or Julian or whatever, to riot against his own people and cause such demise and devastation, it was insulting to the family name.

Family.

Maria and Gerald had been his family. There were times when he thought of Gerald fondly, like a father of sorts. Gerlad had been the one person on the ARK to ever call him son, and he found great comfort in it. All of the other people on the ARK just called him Shadow, or addressed him as the Ultimate Lifeform. Some feared him and that much he knew and understood.

In the back of his mind, he knew that that fear will one day bring his end. The human race was not to be fully trusted, for only a handful of them were worthwhile, as the rest were all but garbling and dishonest monsters waiting to backstab out of cowardice, selfishness and any other act expected from a dependent bunch of low lives.

It was so different from those who he would dare to call Friends.

How strange these invisible bonds formed between people. Trust was a very, very fragile thing.

It is not something given, it is something that is built from the ground up and forged into something more solid over time; like the cobwebs of a spider, delicate and vulnerable, forming silken strings intertwined to stitch together a disk laden with the gleaming dewdrops of morning. Each glimmer of silk just as dazzling as the other, each shone with a distinct sparkle, foretelling a story whispered and woven though the threads of time and fate.

Shadow paused, closed his eyes and with a fluster shook his mind back to the present. He let his mind wander off again into tangent things.

With a sigh, he looked at the blank paper again. May it be as thin as a spider's silken threads, or as tight as a ship's anchor chains, No matter how thin a spider's webs not shatter during a drizzle, instead it lets the droplets slip and slide with ease, causing it no harm. The strongest of currents may shatter the anchor from the chains, however, causing irretrievable damage. A stubborn tree would break and shatter during a storm, whereas the blades of grass would dance the blazing winds away.

Psychology was something he had briefly studied, and it oddly broadened his horizons when it came to trying to figure things out. Why people did the things they do, why and how they acted. Some things were hard to figure out as they were gathered through experience and not from books, but then this tiniest piece of information reveals itself and somehow it clicks, explaining everything on a silver plate.

Like Rouge for example. She was a fairly beautiful, female bat who is very much an adult. No matter what or how tough a female is, he was told that women adore things that sparkle, they be glass or gems made no difference. Hope loved sparkling glass just as much as Rouge adored jewelry. Rose probably adored the blue hedgehog because his blue coat glimmered under the bright sunlight.

Women were weird.

Perhaps it was the fact he was male that he did not see the thing about sparkly objects that women fawn over so much.

He did appreciate the shine of a good magnum though; did that count for anything? Toss in a suppressor and a good flexible trigger, a safety lock just to be safe, and with not too much grease smeared on it, and he'd be a happy hedgehog for a week.

He wondered if Omega liked to keep his armor shined. Did that mean Rouge was attracted to the walking arsenal as well? He wasn't quite sure; that thought alone was awkward...

He stared at the paper again, and was surprised to see scribbles on the top corner. Just when did he add those? He knew he wasn't much of an artist, but he had decent skills when it came to scribbling. Just a few swirly things here and there, one was just a swirl and another was like a whirlwind, and next to them were a bunch of abstract squares where a chaos emerald shaped object was added. He smiled, and eyed the squares a bit longer.

He drew a circle, added a bow-tie shape in the middle, smaller beady circles and a carrot for a nose. He felt the smile stretch wider at the ugly mug, cheekily looked back at him from the paper. Shadow could not contain his amused smile and labeled the face with 'Eggman'. He tapped the pen on the paper a little more, his smile slowly dwindled into his more casual, stoic expression, but he knew that deep inside it was still there, tickling the corners of his mouth.

Looking at the beady eyes he wondered; what color were Eggmans eyes? He had been with the doctor for a very long time, but he never really contemplated the thought of what color they were. The Robotnik or Kintobor bloodline had been full of blondes and redheads, and most had blue eyes. Did that mean Eggman had blue eyes? Perhaps green? Gerald's eyes were a dull shade of ocean gray, a sort of blue in a sense. Maria and Hope's eyes were brilliant cyan blue. But the doctor, he could not recall. His guess was blue eyes, since that was the most common.

Blood line.

His was a puzzle. He wasn't a robot nor a vegetable, and he was not fully from this planet or an alien, due to his being part of Black Doom's blood. He was a missing link in a sense, connected to all but related to none. His fur was black and he had streaks. He, so far, was the only hedgehog who had streaks. All the others he had met were a single color much like Sonic. When he turned super his red remained the same, yet the black of his fur would switch into a golden white hue.

A part of him always wondered; where did Professor Gerald get the hedgehog DNA from anyway? Was he a splice of some other race, or was it a side effect after being merged into Black Arms bloodline? Was it a discoloration, or was it normal? There were so many questions left unanswered, and he guessed that his only answers were lost fifty years into the past. Whatever chance he had to get answers were tied to time travel at best, and seeing he could not achieve that, then it was probably for the best he did not peruse it for now.

That's when he heard a loud feigned cough, looked up and took notice the room was almost empty and one of the tutors was standing at the door, looking at him with a somewhat amused, patient smile. It was time to exit the room for the evening and finish his homework in his dorm. Sheepish, the agent picked up his notebook, and then exit the room with calm, easy steps led him towards the outdoors and headed to the dormitory building.

After all, he needed to stop daydreaming and get this essay done before Monday.

Now if only he could settle on a topic first, damn it…


End file.
